Annual GLTSA Conference

Reported by Peter DeHaan

The annual Great Lakes Telemessaging Services Association (GLTSA) convention was held September 16 – 18 at the elegant Amway Grand Plaza Hotel located in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. There were approximately thirty-five participants in attendance.

The conference began Monday evening with an opening reception sponsored by Telescan. The next morning, GLTSA President, Rob Bennett, welcomed the attendees, thanking them for coming. Darlene Campbell, ATSI (Association of TeleServices International) immediate past president, informed attendees on her work for disaster preparedness, followed by ATSI president, Tedd Smith, who gave a well received ATSI update. Allan Fromm talked about agent scheduling and gave a demo of his scheduling software package. A delicious lunch, provided by Amtelco, followed.

Afterwards, Cheryl Campbell and Patty Kennedy shared their insight and experiences in running award winning call centers. Peter DeHaan followed, providing his analysis on future trends, encouraging attendees to begin taking steps now to prepare for these developments. The next to share was Ken Rothacker who passed on his first-hand knowledge about the changing telco environment, giving his advice on how to successfully navigate it. Tuesday evening was open, providing ample time for networking and informal sharing. Kerry Paul of Kelcom in Windsor, Ontario was the happy winner in the drawing for the Lazy Boy Chair.

Wednesday was kicked off by the ever entertaining Mike Friedel, from Amtelco, who discussed developments with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and what the impact might be on call centers serving the medical community. Vendor presentations followed from Amtelco, CadCom, Professional Teledata, Record/Play Tek, Startel, and Telescan.

The GLTSA business meeting capped of the conference. New board members are Kay Crouse of SecTel Corp., Novi, Mich, Trues Wheeler and Doug Oberlander of Com Link, Ltd, Peoria, Illinois, and Mick Moe of Block Business Call Center, Milwaukee, Wisc. They will join Rob Bennett, John Cook, and Dan Hogan on the board.

If you would like more information about GLTSA, contact Rob Bennett at 888-712-9396.